A Tale of Two People
by Storyspinnerbah
Summary: A look back before a step forward.


Okay I was looking through my old stories and came across this one from WAY back. It's a short one shot, purely Buffy/Giles, but I decided to post it because I can (grin) Hope you like it.

Without further ado,

A Tale of Two People  
>oceanbookfairy<p>

**Buffy**

There's strength in those hands. I've known it since he saved me the very first time, from that witch Catherine Madison. I've always accepted that strength from him. I was a child when we met, too young to understand that sometimes love doesn't have an age range. Why, then, did I find it so easy to fall for Angel? Maybe because Angel doesn't look 247. I was in a state of rebellion, fighting for my life and against my destiny. Maybe I wanted to hurt Giles, I don't know. What I DO know is I couldn't have picked a better way to hurt him. Angel and I were never meant to be. He destroyed my Watcher's love because I caused Angelus to return. ME. Buffy. Not anyone else. Giles won't admit it, he says Jenny should have told us, and maybe so but if I had listened to that part of my heart reserved for the love of my life I would have known.

When Angel left, Giles was there. Always there. Despite my betrayals, and the Test. Through Olivia, through Riley, through my thoughtless words and selfish actions, he was there. What I said about Maggie Walsh-That she was the smartest person I knew, was wrong. Giles holds his own place in my life. He's Giles, the bedrock on which I stand, and the love on which I lean.

I'm glad I realized it. After Riley left, he was the only one not asking how I was, and the one I clung to. I missed him every second he was in England, helping me, being there for me, helping Dawn. I knew when they threatened to make him leave that I would not be whole without him. So I told him. I may have been a child when we met, but I'm a woman now. And I know the value of love, of HIS love.

There's my cue. I have to go. I have found my light against evil in the adoration in his eyes. I will stand strong for as long as I may know that love. Yes, there's strength in his hands. I'm glad they'll be holding mine from now on.

**Giles**

She was a girl when we met. In my enthusiasm, I frightened her, and was terribly afraid that she would not come back. She did return however, and all my training, my knowledge, my rules, would not help this unconventional Slayer. Her frightened eyes told me that. I think I fell in love with her a little that day. But she was so young, so rebellious, how was she to know? She fell in love with Angelus, but I somehow knew that wasn't to hurt me. It was merely to feel like a normal young lady. Some Slayers and Watchers are bonded from birth, meant to be. I've always thought it was cruel, to give a Watcher a soul-mate so soon to die. Now I know the memories would be enough. They would lighten my weary heart in the darkest of nights. She will never know how it ripped my heart out to see him with her, my eternal love.

My dear Jenny was a love, a treasure, but a stop-gap on the road to that love. Her betrayal cost me Buffy, first the agony as she killed her first love, then in the physical when she was gone from us for three months. How I agonized over that! How I tried to find her! Then to see her safe on my doorstep... I could not condemn her, for that would be condemning my heart to its last beat. It was then I knew I loved her. That she was my Bond-mate.

We betrayed each other, yes, she by not mentioning Angel's return and me with that blasted test. I knew she could defeat them. My Buffy has always been resourceful. Besides, how do you question the organization you have built your life on? I will regret that betrayal until my dying day.

Olivia has always been perceptive. On her last visit she saw my love for my Slayer. She holds no harsh feelings, and I am grateful to the time that we shared. It made me more sure of the woman in my heart. Riley was a stopping place for her as well though she never meant it that way. When he left, she grieved, more for the hurt she had caused him than the fact that he was gone. I will never forget the day she came to me and told me she loved me. She said I was her reason, her ability to stand against the dark night and come out with a smile. She said I was the light part of her soul, the part still untouched by the agony of her destiny. I could not help but tell her of my love for her. We fell asleep in each other's arms that night, and woke up to a bright future.

Xander and Willow are nudging me. It's time, they say. I look down the aisle at my love. She looks beautiful in white. She was a girl when we met. But it's the woman she's become that I love now, the woman who will be my bride until the sun burns out. And even then our love will light the universe.  
>The END<p> 


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